It's cool in Las Vegas, and the "participants" were greeted by an early sunrise, curious to see if the advantage shown by Mercedes in the third free practice session could translate into pole position.
The first few fast laps of Q1 were dominated by McLaren, then George Russell shone and took the lead. As in practice, Scuderia Ferrari also showed solid form, but ultimately the top three places were occupied by Mercedes and Max Verstappen. Among the eliminated drivers were traditionally Sergio Perez, Alexander Albon, Valtteri Bottas and the two Aston Martins.
Q2 unfolded similarly to the first race, with Hamilton, Piastri, and Verstappen leading, but virtually anything could happen. Mercedes' pole position was becoming increasingly likely... Hamilton, Sainz, and Russell were leading, and just before the end of the stage, it had to be stopped due to a very serious accident for Franco Collapinto. A red flag and a wait followed... Collapinto, along with Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Guanyu Zhou, and Liam Lawson, failed to reach Q3.
After the first few laps of the postponed Q3, Russell, Sainz, and Verstappen led the field, which wasn't exactly a surprise. It was also no surprise that, at the end of the final attempts, George Russell secured an easy pole position. However, Carlos Sainz's second place and Pierre Gasly's fantastic third place were definitely part of this success. Qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix turned into a truly good session, and let's hope this form carries over to tomorrow's race!
